Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapyMay 9, 2025

How Health Beliefs and Weight Bias Affect Opinions on New GLP-1 Weight-Loss Medications Mounjaro and Ozempic

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

A total of 413 participants reported a mean obesity/overweight bias score of 3.83±0.62, indicating agreement with the bias.

Familiarity with Mounjaro and Ozempic was high at 83.6%, but only 17.2% recommended their use.
Weight management drug use among participants was 14.0%, with 5.9% specifically using Mounjaro and Ozempic.
The mean score for attitudes toward Mounjaro and Ozempic was 2.70±0.716, suggesting a slightly unfavorable perspective.
Perceived benefits, barriers, subjective norms, and attitudes were identified as key determinants affecting attitudes toward these medications.
Concerns regarding side effects, cost, and accessibility may contribute to the negative attitudes observed among healthcare professionals.

Simplified

INTRODUCTION: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists including Mounjaro and Ozempic, are increasingly used for weight management. Assessing the attitudes and beliefs of current and future healthcare professionals is important considering their roles in recommending and prescribing these drugs. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes toward Mounjaro and Ozempic and its correlation with obesity/overweight bias among healthcare professionals and students in medicine and pharmacy in Arab countries.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was based on a self-administered online questionnaire with participants recruited via a convenient snowball sampling approach. Attitudes towards Mounjaro and Ozempic were evaluated using a newly developed construct termed Mini Health Beliefs and Attitudes toward GLP-1 Drugs Scale (mini-HBAGS), alongside a novel scale to assess obesity/overweight bias (OOB). The new constructs' validity was assessed via content validity, principal component analysis (PCA), and Cronbach's α.

RESULTS: The study included 413 participants predominantly from Kuwait (32.8%), Egypt (20.9%), Saudi Arabia (18.8%), and Jordan (15.4%). Familiarity with Mounjaro and Ozempic was high (83.6%), with 17.2% recommending them. Weight management drug use was 14.0%, including 5.9% for Mounjaro and Ozempic. Among participants familiar with Mounjaro and Ozempic, the mean OOB score was 3.83±0.62 (range: 1.00-5.00), indicating agreement, while the mean score for the mini-H-BAGS was 2.70±0.716 (range: 1.00-5.00), indicating a slightly unfavorable attitude. PCA identified perceived benefits and barriers, and subjective norms and attitudes, as key determinants of attitudes toward Mounjaro and Ozempic.

CONCLUSION: This study revealed slightly negative attitudes toward Mounjaro and Ozempic among healthcare professionals and students in Arab countries. The negative attitudes observed likely reflect concerns about side effects, cost, and accessibility of these medications. The findings highlighted the need for targeted education in Arab countries to address and encourage a balanced evaluation of the benefits and risks of GLP-1 drugs for weight management.

Key numbers

83.6%

Familiarity with Medications

Percentage of participants familiar with Mounjaro and Ozempic.

17.2%

Recommendation Rate

Percentage of participants recommending Mounjaro and Ozempic for weight management.

3.83±0.62

Score

Mean score on the scale.

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How Health Beliefs and Weight Bias Affect Opinions on New GLP-1 Weight-Loss Medications Mounjaro and Ozempic

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